To break it down or not to break it down. THAT is the (?)

I acquired a nice Seeburg AY160 a few weeks ago which I have been going through. It is turning out very nice. I also enjoy restoring electro mechanical (EM) pinball machines. When I get a "new" pinball machine I disassemble, clean and service every stepper, coin door etc to ensure it functions properly and increase reliability.

Now my question is how to proceed with the Seeburg 160ST5 mechanism. By appearance the unit looks very well taken care of. I have not found any gummed/pooled/accumulated old grease anywhere. All the arms, rollers etc even deep inside do not have any apparent dirt accumulation as if someone had already gone through it.

The last time of lubrication was unknown, so I went through the lubrication chart in the service manual. I haven't had the mech off of the base frame, but I had removed the magazine, Tormat memory unit and the popularity meter to access the rear of the mech for inspection and to properly follow the suggested lubrication procedure.

I have played a few hundred selections since then and I noticed a "dry bearing" sound developing in the mech last night. I pinpointed it to the helical gear which drives the clutch shaft. A few dabs of white lithium grease on the gear quieted it down nicely (The gear is not in my lube chart). But that started me wondering if I should take the time to service the whole mechanism proper.

Far as mech problemsI had a minor tracking problem which was resolved, and solved a Tormat issue. There is a very intermittent issue where that 1 out of 150 or so selections the record is clamped, the popularity meter fires twice then the record is returned back to the magazine without playing. That instance is so rare that I am not very concerned at this point, and I have enough to do on the rest of the machine which is more pressing.

So do you more experienced jukebox techs -automatically- service (Breakdown, clean, lube, adjust) these mechanisms or make a judgement whether or not to spend the time.

I hear only raving comments about Ron's mech guide and I plan to pick one up either way.

Thanks for reading all of this and any replies.
-Steve

Since you enjoy it on the EM Pinballs, if I were you i'd break it down, just so you can get familiar with how the whole thing goes together.

Personally, I wouldn't.. .but since you seem to enjoy that side of it, it might be kind of cool. Then you would be pretty good at any Seeburg down the road, they all have similar mechs.

Steve,
Word of advise--pick up my Seeburg Mechanism Guide, before going any further--IMHO, you have already "done too much". PM me if you wish to purchase a copy. Ron Rich

Hi Ron.

I thought I had PM'd you the other day about the needles and your guide. My outbox is empty so looks like it didn't go through. I'll send another one. Thanks.

Don't think I got it--